Railroad-tie



J. D. BRYANT.

RAILROAD TIE. i APPLlcATloN FILED sPT.25, |920.

Patented Apr. 26, 1921.

,losePH D. Bm

JOSEPH D. BRYANT,` OF APPLEBY, TEXAS.

nArLnoA-na'rrn.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 26, 1921.

Application filed September 25, 1920. Serial No. 412,708.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, Josnrrr D. BRYANT, a citizen of the United "States, residing at Appleby, in the county of Nacogdoches and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railroad-Ties, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawin s.

'gIhis invention relates to railroad ties and particularly to a tie formed from a log of wood.

The old form of wooden tie has both of its faces hewed or formed fiat, said flat surface extending longitudinally of the tie with the result that the cut portion of the upper face does not shed water in view of its flat formation and in addition to this the water easily enters the tie as the cut grains of the surface are not capable of resisting water as well as if the grain or wood was left in its natural form. Furthermore, considerable labor and time is required to produce this form of tie.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a wooden tie so constructed that the log is permitted to retain its natural form as far as possible, that is cutting the log so that it will not roll and provide flat surfaces for the rails.

Another object of the invention is to provide a tie of this character wherein the larger portion of the exposed surface of the tie retains its natural form and is therefore capable of shedding water.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a wooden tie wherein the intermediate portion of the upper face of the tie is disposed above the surface of the end portions of said face, the intermediate portion closely adjacent the ends being beveled so as not to interfere with the wheels of the train and to also shed water.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention consists in the details of construction to be hereinafter more particularly described, claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a top plan view of a wooden railroad tie constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation;

Fig. 3 is an end view.

Referring to the drawings, 5 designates a tie constructed from a log of wood, and consisting of an upper face 6 and a lower face 7. The intermediate portion of the upper face 6 and sides 8 retain their natural form, that is the grain of the wood in the surfaces of these portions is not penetrated. In this way the sides 8 merge with the intermediate portion and thereby shed water quickly in a natural manner. Furthermore, the uncut grain of the wood of the intermediate portion renders the tie more substantial. The only work required on the intermediate portion of the face 6 and sides 8, is the removing of the bark.

The lower face 7 is formed fiat by hewing or any suitable means,vsaid flat surface eX- tending longitudinally or along the entire length of the tie so as to permit the same to be maintained in the proper position beneath the rails and prevent lateral movement when under pressure. A portion of the ends of theface 6 are cut away to provide rail supporting surfaces 9. These surfaces are flat, and are disposed in parallel relation to the surface of the face 7. The ends of the intermediate portion of the face 6 are beveled toward the surfaces 9, so as to retain the strength afforded by the natural form of the log at its intermediate portion and at the same time to prevent the wheels of theV train from striking the tie. These beveled portions also permit moisture to be properly drained therefrom. In view of the above, the only portion of the tie that can possibly retain water is the rail supporting surfaces 9, and these are almost entirely covered by the flange of the rail so that it is practically impossible for any water to remain on the tie. Another important feature is that the beveled portions of the face 6 afford additional security for the rail spikes or rail fastening means, especially when the tie is used on curves, as side pressure of the train on the spike is resisted by the beveled portion.

From the foregoing it will be readily seen that this invention provides a novel form of 100 wooden railroad tie which permits practically all of the strength of the original log to be retained, reduces the cost of producing wooden ties and permits the tie to be used Y v indefinitely. In addition to this` it prevents 105 waste of timber.

PATENT *or-*Flea What is claimed is A railroad tie consisting of a 10g of Wood having a natural top surface and a fiat bottom, the end portions of the top of the tie 5 being reduced, each inner end Wall formed by said reduced end portions being canted toward said reduced portions, whereby rails supported by said reduced portions are properly gaged and prevented from movement toward the center of the tie. 10

In testimony whereof I hereunto aiX my signature. Y

JOSEPH D. BRYANT. 

